Obama law could send 1,000 cheap cigarette stores up in smoke

Obama’s new statement became a bad news for smokers and cigarette stores alike.

For a long time roll-your-own cigarettes (RYO cigarettes) were considered as a cheaper option for cigarette smokers. Now RYO cigarettes are established to be a thing of the past because President Barack Obama introduced a new law regarding them.

Roll-your-own Cigarette Machine

Some of these days the president will sign a federal highway bill with a section establishing that any business with roll-your-own cigarette machines is a tobacco manufacturer and increasing taxes on the its products, the Chicago Sun Times informed.

The measure will touch upon those smokers who for a long time have been able to support their habits at a discount price of pre-rolled packs like Marlboro.

Due to the fact that a number of roll-your-own shops is increasing across the U.S. states, cheap cigarettes became more and more available and correspondingly more attractive option for smoking people.

Using roll-your-own cigarette machines smokers would package loose tobacco into finished cigarettes to take home.

The price of a machine is nearly $33,000 and such machine can roll about 200 cigarettes within minutes.

The novelty in federal policy suggests that tobacco stores owners have to get tobacco manufacturing permits. They will also fight to classify the selling tobacco as lower taxed pipe tobacco.

The move regarding roll-your-own cigarettes could even mean the end of business for those owners who deal with only RYO cigarettes.

Phil Acordino, president of RYO Machines, which started manufacturing roll-your-own cigarette machines in 2008, said that the new law is not created for people to execute.

He told the Huffington Post that the law is created to make owners of RYO tobacco stores bankrupts and that owners could not obtain a manufacturer’s permit if they wanted to do this.

Acordino said that the RYO Machines company will be obliged to pay off its 45-person staff because of new law, adding that he thinks that the stores that buy machines at his company, as well will have to lay off workers or even close the store.

There are about 1,000 roll-your-own shops in 42 states, with nearly 2,000 machines installed.

In 2010 RYO Machines secured a judicial restraint blocking a ruling by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to stop retail dealers who operate without manufacturing permits.